Breaking News: Disney shut Robert Zemeckis Image Movers performance capture studio

It's a major news: Disney is going to shut the Robert Zemeckis Image Movers "performance capture" studio. Yes, the same one that was used for the making of "A Christmas Carol" and "Polar Express". The closure of the facility in Marin County, north of San Francisco, will be completed by January and result in the loss of 450 jobs, AP announced.

And from Variety: "Move is also a blow to the Bay Area's filmmaking community, which has seen vfx shops The Orphanage and Giant Killer Robots close in recent years as vfx work flows to locales with tax incentives and lower labor costs.

Announcement came as a shock to employees, who had seen no belt-tightening before they were told IMD would be closed.

Zemeckis was close to former Disney Studios topper Dick Cook and IMD was set up while Cook was running the studio. IMD recently moved into a state-of-the-art facility in renovated airplane hangars at the former Hamilton Landing Air Force Base in Novato. Disney has not decided what will become of that plant.

IMD had pitched itself to artists as a long-term career opportunity and a place to settle, have a family and enjoy good quality-of-life. It has also been among the minority of vfx and animation shops where artists are repped by a union, the Animation Guild, and receive union benefits.

Disney's history of closing successful vfx and animation facilities has earned it considerable ill-will among vfx artists and animators. In the 1990s the Mouse acquired respected vfx studio DreamQuest Images, which did "Dinosaurs," then shuttered and disbanded it. Disney opened an animation studio in Florida, which delivered the hit "Lilo & Stitch," then closed that as well. The "Lilo & Stitch" helmers moved on to DreamWorks Animation, where they recently completed "How to Train Your Dragon."

Here is excerpts of the Associated Press article, you can read the full article HERE:

"To further cut costs at its movie studio, The Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it will shut a San Francisco-area facility used to capture the performance of Jim Carrey for his digitally animated character, Scrooge, in "A Christmas Carol."

The facility was built by ImageMovers Digital, a company co-founded by "A Christmas Carol" director Robert Zemeckis and partially owned by Disney. Motion-capture technology in that facility was used to make the movie; Carrey wore sensors as he acted out scenes, and the data were used to recreate his character on the screen.

Before it closes, the complex will continue to be used by Zemeckis and his team to complete production of "Mars Needs Moms!," a 3-D movie set for release in March 2011.

"Given today's economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model," Walt Disney Studios president Alan Bergman said.

In a statement, Zemeckis said he was "incredibly proud" of the ImageMovers team and the work it accomplished.

Disney said it hoped to come to a new long-term production deal with Zemeckis and his ImageMovers partners, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey, including one for a future project called "Yellow Submarine."

Disney's studio has been paring costs and decreasing its movie slate, most recently putting a halt to "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Wedding Banned" and "Wild Hogs 2."

Text: copyright Associated Press & Variety

" A Christmas Carol " World Premiere in London

Tonight, the World Premiere of A Christmas Carol happened in London. As a matter of fact, at the time i'm writing this article the Premiere is still going on, but D&M have already all the pictures for you - and they're all in high-res size!



The event was located at the Odeon Leicester square, London's legendary theatre and it loks like London's Leicester Square was back to the Victorian era. Children and performers of all ages were dressed in victorian costumes...

















As you can see the Victorian "theming" of the evening was great. On stage, carol singers performed along with Andrea Bocelli, the famous blind singer.









On the red carpet, the cast of A Christmas Carol was there: Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins, Director Robert Zemeckis - all with their lovely wives - and Disney CEO Bob Iger was there, too!















Well, it looks that it was a nice evening, wasn't it?

Tomorrow, you'll see why, we will be back in London!

Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat

All pictures: copyright Getty Images

" A Christmas Carol " Trailer

Disney has released the trailer of "A Christmas Carol" and you can watch it below. All the film is done with Robert Zemeckis now famous "performance capture" technique and i have mixed feelings about the result. It looks definitely better than Polar Express, but i'm not sure the result will be better than if they've filmed a real live movie... So, we have here a digital Jim Carrey - as well as all others actors - moving in digital decors of a Victorian London, and all in 3D. Okay, we'll see if magic will be there, too.



As i told you last week, the movie will have its world premiere on November 3 in London. regent Street, Oxford street and The "City" will be decorated with the colors of the movie. Jim Carrey, Colin Firth, Robin Wright Penn, Bob Hoskins and director Robert Zemeckis will be there for the celebration.



The world premiere will happen at Leicester Square, and for the first time in history, the three Leicester Square theatres will be part of the premiere, with 4000 seats reserved for this memorable event. tickets will be available for everybody so everyone will be able to be part of the premiere. Christmas carols singers ressed in 19th century costumes, snow falls, shows and giant screens will be all around Leicester Square. The premiere will be at the benefit of the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.




Pictures and trailer: copyright Disney

Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat

New Pictures from Robert Zemeckis " A Christmas Carol "

Disney released a small "A Christmas Carol" featurette and you can watch it on Youtube HERE but before let's have a look to the different faces of Jim Carrey in this Robert Zemeckis version of Charles Dickens famous novel.


As you know Jim Carrey is playing Ebenezer Scrooge but you may not know that he is playing Scrooge at four different ages, from 7 years old to 70!



Here is a picture of him as the "old" Scrooge...



And another one with and without the make-up.



Jim is also playing the three different "ghosts of Christmas". Whether it is the Ghost of the Past...



...the ghost of the Present...



...and the ghost of the Christmas "Yet to Come"!



I've told it to you before, i have a very good feling with this movie, i think it's gonna be good, and visually it should be stunning. All we have to do is to wait until next December to check if i'm right or not!

All Screen captures: copyright Disney

" A Christmas Carol " Cannes Film Festival Premiere Event

Director Robert Zemeckis, Jim Carrey and most of the actors of "A Christmas Carol" were at Cannes Film festival today for a special event.

Let's begin with some shots of the photo call. Gorgeous weather today in Cannes, perfect for good pictures. They did a mise en scène in front of the Carlton hotel, with fake snow(!) and an old horse carriage. I remind you the cast of the movie, most of them were at Cannes today: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Bob Cratchit, Colin Firth and Robin Wright Penn. For more infos about who plays who please see the other article below.























In the morning, there was also a press conference right after the premiere screening for Cannes journalists. Here are some pictures, with a Jim Carrey unleashed - as usual ) - "playing" Scrooge.












And let's end with a picture of the journalists before the press screening begin, all with 3D glasses!



All pictures: copyright Getty Images 2009